An even lengthier arrival followed by a hot then wet welcome to Bangkok!

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22 and a half hours later... we arrived!

Epic is the most fitting word for our journey, 10 hours on the plane to Mumbai, 1 hour wait, 4 hours on the plane to Bangkok, 1 hour standing in a line at passport control (Mark had to do a lot of calming me down at this point! I was getting a bit cross!) And then we encountered Bangkok rush hour which was an experience in itself- one which admittedly I slept through- but Mark relayed all the details of the flags, military vehicles and best of all, the taxi driver clipping his toenails at one red light...lovely.

So we arrived at our Bangkok hostel and were shown our room, basic but very nice. 2 mattresses on the floor, shared bathroom next door and a little balcony outside our room to sit and Skype home (I know we've only been away for a day but it feels like a lot more already!). We slept the tiredness off then ventured out at tea time for our first real taste of Thailand. We wandered out to the main road and set off looking for some food. Before too long we stumbled across a bustling little Thai 'restaurant', full of locals and tourists alike and after writing our own order down wasted no time in tucking in. We went for fried duck in soy sauce as well as fried prawns in garlic and the obligatory two bowl of rice of course, all washed down with a 'Leo beer' or two.

After another saunter around the area surrounding our hostel we retired to the comforts of our room for a good nights sleep ready to explore the city more on Saturday.

Today must have been one of the hottest days of our lives. It was very, very hot! Even the locals thought it was hot. They were all either asleep in deck-chairs at the roadside, fanning themselves with big plastic fans, stealing all the shade at the temples (how rude!) or trying to sell us umbrellas to walk around with. One of them said to us, "I must stand in the shade, today is big sun!" Which pretty much sums it up. How that was to change!

We ate breakfast at the hostel this morning and headed out as early as possible whilst it was still cooler. We got the ferry across the river and pushed our way through hundreds of other tourists and locals to get to the Grand Palace, which is amazing! Beautifully intricate and detailed statues, towers and temples with coloured glass, jewels and gold leaf on everything. Outside we were warned not to trust 'wily strangers' by a big, official-looking sign with instructions for visiting tourists. Excellent advice! We said "no thank you!" in loud voices to would-be (commission based) freinds and tuk-tuk drivers and did some wandering about before eventually striking for Wat Pho- the oldest temple in Bangkok, dating from the 1600s (I think). Wat Pho is a much quieter but just as beautifull temple with the Golden Buddha and the Reclining Buddha in 2 seperate buildings. The Reclining Buddha is huge! And he is actually laid out like he is having a Roman feast!

After leaving Wat Pho we aimed in the general direction of where we thought the ferry probably was and meandered our way back through the market stalls and hawkers that lined the road. You could buy or sell seemingly anything that you wanted to. There were piles of very smelly drying fish, gadgets, sunglasses, watches, plastic figures of buddhas, all manner of fried food and fresh fruit, tiny metallic looking objects with old men squinting at them through eye-pieces, necklaces, shoes, shorts and other clothes, absolutely anything and everything. Half-way down the road we stopped for a late lunch in a little restaurant and had more amazing food- it's all so good! Then carried on back to our hostel for a snooze before heading out again in the evening.

Th Kho San was our destination, one of the backpacker hotspots in Bangkok. Although Mark had already eaten what he was christening 'doritoes,' but I thought looked suspiciously like pigs ears, we went searching for more delicious Thai grub. As we were walking through the neon lights, Mcdonalds and KFCs the rain started to fall. Feeling the immediate onset of a monsoonal downpour we hastened into the nearest eatery and examined the menu as torrents began to fall. The extreme heat had given way to extreme rainfall as half of the Indian Ocean descended in a deluge making everyone dive for cover. In our sheltered spot we devoured the best prawn toast ever (jealous dad?), and chicken satay sticks complete with thai curry sauce. Trapped in our corner cafe we watched the street become a canal, complete with Tuk tuks battling against the rising flood and locals wearing plastic bags on their heads. After roughly an hour, the heavens relented giving us enough time to explore the alleyways some more. The seemingly endless labarinth of stalls again selling everything and anything including driving lincences, degrees and diplomas kept us entertained for some time before the second half of the storm hit, leaving us with little choice but to retire to our hostel to dry off and get some well earned rest.

As we finish off the post, the rain is still falling by the bucket full, lets hope it stops in time for tomorrow as we plan to visit the weekend market of Chatuchak, supposedly the busiest in SE Asia.

Goodbye for now,
Mark and Rachael

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Photos

River Boat
Our transport down the Mae Nam Chao Phraya

Wat Phra Kaew
Inside the Grand Palace complex

Wat Pho
Sitting Buddha at the Wat Pho temple complex

Comments

[Sarah M]

Wow!!!
Wow it sounds like you are having such an amazing time already! My favourite part was the advice "not to trust the wily strangers"! It has been like a monsoon here today actually, which i am sure comes as no surprise. Anyway, i am enjoying the blogs and can't wait to read the next one! I will check daily! xxx